In a Quiet Town
by Desha
Summary: Reno and Yuffie head off to investigate a strange town that seems to be hoarding materia. Complete at 8 Chapters. :
1. Lost and Found

In a Quiet Town  
by Desha  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Chapter 1: Lost and Found  
  
Yuffie groaned for what had to have been the fiftieth time in the last hour. Her head lolled back against the seat of the car.  
  
"If you're lost again, so help me..." Her threat went unfinished as another wave of nausea hit her.  
  
"I'm not lost... And by the way, green is a really good color for you," Reno said, grinning as he glanced at the sickly pallor of her face.  
  
"Shut up, Turk-boy," Yuffie replied, turning her head away from him to look out at the scenery as they drove past. 'Oh... bad idea,' she thought, squeezing her eyes shut to block out the movement as her stomach lurched again. Reno turned his gaze back to the road. Yuffie's motion sickness had been a constant source of amusement for him ever since he'd discovered her hiding in the trunk of his car. Served her right, the little stowaway.  
  
"Aww... Is my poor little Yuffiekins not feeling well?" he cooed, taunting her.  
  
"I thought I told you to shut up," Yuffie said wearily.  
  
"It's your own fault, you know... No one asked you to come with me."  
  
"Well, I didn't expect to be driving around for hours on end with an idiot who has no sense of direction!"  
  
"For the last time, I KNOW WHERE I'M GOING!" Reno yelled, purposefully speeding up to take a sharp turn on the road. Yuffie groaned in misery.  
  
"Yeah... right. Why is it that men have to drive to Hell and back before they'll stop and ask for directions?" Yuffie whined.  
  
"'Cause we like the scenery," Reno said nonchalantly. The road began to twist and turn through the thick trees, winding back and forth, and Reno flew over the bumpy road with glee, watching Yuffie out of the corner of his eye and chuckling softly as her face blanched.  
  
"Ooooh... Reno, stop," she pleaded, covering her mouth with one hand.  
  
"Aren't you having fun?" he snickered.  
  
"Reno, I'm... urp... serious... Stop the car," she moaned. Not wanting to see what would happen to the interior of his car if he didn't do as she asked, he hit the brakes. The second the car stopped, Yuffie jumped out, making a mad dash for the bushes. A moment later, Reno could hear her gagging. A few minutes more, and Yuffie slowly walked back to the car, hand clutched to her stomach.  
  
"You alright?" asked Reno. For an answer, she simply plopped down in the passenger seat and went limp. Reno reached over her, pulling the passenger side door shut and headed off down the road again, slower this time. He couldn't help but feel a little guilty over purposefully reducing the young ninja to such a state. He hated feeling guilty... so he decided to take his mind off of that annoying feeling. He mentally went over his assignment one more time.  
  
Word had gotten out that a small town named Duraman on the western continent was allegedly stockpiling vast quantities of materia. To what purpose, no one seemed to know... or at least no one was willing to say. He was supposed to find out what was going on. What remained of Shin-Ra, Inc. was interested. The company was regaining its power, albeit slowly, under the direction of Reeve, and ironically enough, with the aid of AVALANCHE. At the moment, most of its resources were concentrated on the rebuilding of Midgar... minus the Plate and Mako reactors. Reeve called it a "reclamation project"... Reno just called it a job. As long as he was getting paid, he was happy... though having a less heavy conscience these days didn't hurt either. Unlike the previous executives of Shin-Ra, Reeve was not a cold-hearted, power-hungry profit-monger.  
  
Reno dared a glance at Yuffie... She seemed to be recovering a bit, staring up at the roof of the car, her face less pale than it had been a few minutes ago. He never should have mentioned this trip to her.  
  
"You alright?" he repeated.  
  
"Better... A little anyway..." She replied, "Are we there yet?"  
  
"Uh... no..." he said as they came to a very familiar-looking fork in the road.  
  
"Reno... Weren't we just here an hour ago?" Yuffie asked, accusingly.  
  
"Quiet, brat," Reno replied. They'd gone right before, and come full circle... That meant they should go left this time. Simple process of elimination. Who needed a map? Reno took the left fork.  
  
"Gawd... I'm going to be stuck out here with you for the rest of my life," said Yuffie.  
  
"I. Am. Not. Lost," Reno stated in measured tones.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Two hours later, the engine sputtered and died, the gas tank empty.  
  
"Alright, I'm lost!" Reno cried in response to the glare he was receiving from Yuffie.  
  
"I don't believe this!" Yuffie replied. Reno shoved the door open, grabbed his electro-rod from the back seat, and climbed out, "Hey! Where are you going?!"  
  
"Where do you think I'm going? I'm going to Duraman," Reno retorted, stomping off down the road.  
  
"Hey, wait for me!" Yuffie whined. She sprinted to catch up with him, "How are you planning to find this town? You don't even know where you are!" Reno muttered something under his breath that she didn't quite catch. They walked until the sun began to set.  
  
"Ya know, it's gonna be dark soon..." Yuffie said to her scowling traveling-companion.  
  
"I'm aware of that," Reno hissed back through clenched teeth.  
  
"So... um... What are we gonna do?" she asked. Reno stopped dead in his tracks and shot her an icy look.  
  
"Uh... nevermind," she squeaked. They walked in relative silence for awhile, except for the occasional complaint from Yuffie. Soon they were traveling by moonlight. As they reached the top of a hill, Reno suddenly laughed triumphantly.  
  
"Ha! I knew I'd find it eventually!" he said, pointing down the slope. Sure enough, the lights of a little town could be seen amongst the trees.  
  
"Great... Let's go find the hotel," Yuffie responded, yawning. The local inn was not hard to find, and soon they each had a room. They headed upstairs, both desperate for a little rest.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Yuffie stretched and climbed out of bed as the sun peeked through the windows. She looked around the room and a sheet of paper on the floor near the door caught her eye. Picking it up, she struggled to make out the chicken-scratches that Reno passed off as handwriting.  
  
"Gawd... He's got the worst penmanship I've ever seen," she complained, squinting at the words, finally managing to make out the scrawled message:  
  
Dear Yuffie,  
I'm going to see what I can find out  
about this huge supply of materia  
that's supposed to be here. Stay out  
of trouble. In fact, just stay in your  
room until I come back.  
Love,  
The Turk of your dreams  
  
Yuffie rolled her eyes and crumpled the note, tossing it over her shoulder.  
  
"Stay here? When there's a ton of materia somewhere in this town? I don't think so..." she said to herself. She grabbed a quick shower to be rid of the previous day's grime, and headed out of the hotel, trying to decide where to start looking.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Dressed in a white tee-shirt and jeans, rather than his usual uniform, Reno sat in a small bar, a beer in one hand, the chair he sat in tilted back precariously on its back legs ads he propped his feet up on the table in front of him... but for once, he wasn't drinking for pleasure. He was easedropping on the two men who sat in the corner of the nearly-empty bar.  
  
"Just brought in a few new ones," said the taller, thinner of the two, brushing a few strands of blond hair out of his eyes, "Some Alls and a mastered Transform."  
  
"Have a look at this," the other man replied, wiping the sweat from his balding head with a handkerchief. He reached into his pocket and produced a small, red stone, holding it up for the first man to see.  
  
"Hey, that's a nice one, Lars," the taller man said.  
  
"Yup... The mayor's gonna like this one... We don't have too many Summons yet."  
  
"Better take it to him soon... Wouldn't want anything to happen to it."  
  
"Yeah, I'm on my way there now... Just thought I'd show it off a little before it ends up in the vault."  
  
The first man nodded, understandingly, as his friend stood up and left. Reno drained the contents of the bottle he was holding, and casually strode out of the bar, tailing the man.  
  
'Vault, huh?' he thought, 'Sounds like the rumors are true...'  
  
He followed the man to a large house at the opposite end of town, watching him stroll past the guards at the ornate front gates and up the path to the door, materia in hand. He was immediately let inside. It was only a few minutes before the man reemerged, an idiotic grin on his face. He was no longer holding the materia. Reno made his way back to the hotel. He'd have to check out that house soon... but it would be easier at night. He climbed the stairs to his room, but as an afterthought, turned to Yuffie's door instead, knocking loudly.  
  
"Yuffie, come on... Open up!" he called when she didn't answer. Sighing, he pulled a lock pick from his pocket, relatively certain that he'd find her gone.  
  
"Dammit!" he cursed at the empty room, as his suspicions were confirmed. He saw his note lying in a crumpled ball next to the bed.  
  
"I don't even know why I bothered to tell her to stay here," he sighed as he walked back out of the hotel again.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
"Grr... Not one person in this town has any materia... What a waste of time," the materia thief muttered to herself as she walked down the street. Everyone she'd talked to was the same. She'd ask if they knew where she could find some materia, and they would graciously direct her to places like Nibelheim, and Costa del Sol, and even as far away as Mideel. The only thing she'd learned was that this town was a lot bigger than it had looked from the top of the hill last night... Her feet hurt from all the walking.  
  
She decided to take a shortcut back to the hotel, slipping into a narrow alleyway between two buildings. She hadn't gone far when a strong hand suddenly grabbed her harshly by the wrist and spun her around. Instinctively, as soon as she was facing him, she brought her knee swiftly upwards between her attacker's legs with as much force as she could muster, and was rewarded with a howl of pain. She grinned with satisfaction and drew her Conformer, falling into a defensive posture as she looked down at the man, who was now writhing on the ground, hands between his legs.  
  
"That'll teach ya to mess with Yuffie Kisaragi, ninja extordinaire!" she declared.  
  
"I am going to kill you, Yuffie," a strained voice addressed her, and she suddenly noticed the bright red hair framing the familiar face that now looked up at her.  
  
"Reno!?"  
  
Tears of pain had formed in the corners of his aquamarine eyes, and he lay doubled over on the ground.  
  
"A-are you alright?" Yuffie asked, hiding a giggle behind a facade of concern.  
  
"What do you think?!" Reno replied with a whimper. She moved forward to help him up.  
  
"Just stay away from me, Yuffie..." he warned.  
  
"Gawd... I'm not gonna hurt you," she said, taking hold of his arm and dragging him to his feet.  
  
"Not gonna hurt me?!" he exclaimed in disbelief. She could still see the shimmer of tears in his eyes.  
  
"Well, I'm sorry! How was I supposed to know it was you? You just grabbed me out of nowhere!"  
  
"If you had stayed in your room like I told you to, I wouldn't have had to come after you at all, now would I?" Reno said, closing his eyes and drawing several deep breaths, hoping the pain would fade soon, "Let's just go back to the hotel."  
  
'Consider that payback for the car ride up here, ya jerk,' she thought smugly.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Note: Oh, poor Reno... I feel so bad for letting Yuffie do that to him. *grins sadistically* And so ends Chapter 1. What do you think? Is this one worth continuing? Reviews welcome and much appreciated! :)  



	2. Caught

In a Quiet Town  
by Desha  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Chapter 2: Caught  
  
Yuffie sat alone in her room, flipping through the channels on TV... not that there was much to watch anymore, what with Shin-Ra's television studios being destroyed by Meteor. All that was left were a few "local" channels, if you could call public access from Rocket Town local. The picture was barely visible, and the sound was continuously interrupted by the loud growl of static. But there wasn't much else to do. Reno had confined her to her room on pain of death until he said she could come out. Then he had disappeared into his own room, and she hadn't heard a peep from him since. At last, she couldn't take it anymore. She got up and walked into the hallway, and knocked on Reno's door.  
  
"What?!" a voice snapped from inside.  
  
"Reno? It's me..."  
  
"You have five seconds to get your ninja ass back to your room," Reno replied.  
  
"Oh come on, Reno... I said I was sorry!"  
  
"One!" Reno shouted.  
  
"Will you just open the door?"  
  
"Two!"  
  
"Reno! I'm bored!"  
  
"Three!"  
  
"This isn't fair, Reno..."  
  
"Four!"  
  
"Well, can I at least go an get something to eat? I'm starving to death!" she called, becoming more and more exasperated. She waited for the count of five, but it never came. Instead, the lock turned and the door swung open to reveal Reno, clearly still in a bad mood from the earlier incident.  
  
"Starving to death?" he snorted, "Yeah, right... Fine then... You can bring back lunch for *both* of us." Narrowing his eyes, he handed her some gil. Yuffie took it and ran off before he could reconsider.  
  
She returned ten minutes later with sandwiches and drinks from a nearby shop. Reno took his lunch and moved to close the door in her face.  
  
"Reno! I don't wanna eat by myself... You've kept me in that room all alone for half the day," she said, giving him her best pout. He scowled at her for a moment.  
  
"Alright, you can come in... But don't expect me to be pleasant company," Reno replied sharply.  
  
"When are you ever pleasant company?" Yuffie asked with an innocent smile. Reno moved to shut her out of the room again. "Aw, come on Reno... I was kidding. Jeez, can't ya take a joke?"  
  
"Not when the most sensitive area of my body is still... tender..."  
  
Yuffie snickered and shoved her way into the room before he could object. She settled herself on the bed and began to eat. Reno sat down at the small table on the opposite side of the room, as far from the young ninja as he could get.  
  
"So when are we gonna get out of here?" asked Yuffie, "This place doesn't have so much as a Sense materia."  
  
"Yeah? And just how did you come to that enlightened conclusion?" Reno mumbled around a mouthful of food.  
  
"Ewww... Grossness. Gawd, don't you have any manners at all?"  
  
"No," he replied before swallowing. Yuffie threw a pickle at him, laughing as it bounced off his head. Reno shrugged and plucked the pickle from the floor, flicking off a bit of carpet fuzz and taking a bite."  
  
"You're disgusting," Yuffie said, rolling her eyes.  
  
"Thank you," replied Reno, "So what makes you think there's no materia here?"  
  
"No materia shops... No one carrying materia... And everyone I talked to told me to look for it in other towns."  
  
"Well, it might surprise you to learn that just this morning I followed a guy with a Summon materia to the mayor's house... He mentioned something about putting it in 'the vault'..."  
  
"A vault? Full of materia?" Yuffie's eyes widened, "Where's this house at? I'm paying it a little visit tonight."  
  
"No, you're staying here tonight. I'm paying it a visit," Reno corrected, "I'm going to find out what's going on and then we're heading home so I can report to Reeve. Got it?"  
  
"But... but... A vault full of materia!" Yuffie cried.  
  
"You're not going," Reno stated calmly.  
  
"Oh yeah? How are you gonna stop me?"  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
"Bye Yuffie," said Reno, "Don't wait up!"  
  
He smiled sweetly at the ninja, who was squirming frantically, trying to loosen the ropes that held her in the chair.  
  
"Reno! This is so not fair!"  
  
Reno just waved and headed for the door, electro-rod in hand.  
  
"Let me out of these ropes, you creep!" she yelled. Reno stepped out the door, ignoring her protests.  
  
"Hey! What if you need help or something?!" Yuffie asked, a last ditch effort to get him to take her with him. Reno shut the door behind him as he left the room.  
  
"RENO!" Yuffie screamed at the top of her lungs. The door opened, and Reno stepped back inside.  
  
"Yuffie, would you just shut up? You're gonna disturb the whole hotel."  
  
"Oh yeah? In that case, let me go with you or I'll start screaming. What do you have to say about that? Huh, Turk-boy?" she said. Reno smirked in response, glad he'd been prepared for just such an emergency. He reached into the drawer of the bedside table and pulled out a roll of duct tape. Yuffie watched him as he tore a piece off.  
  
"Don't you dare!" she warned, though she doubted she seemed particularly threatening tied to a chair. Reno grinned and slapped the tape over her mouth. "Mhmmm! Mmmph mmm!"  
  
"Night Yuffie!" he said cheerfully... and disappeared out the door.  
  
'Oh, just you wait til I get my hands on you, Reno... You are sooooo dead!' she thought.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Reno crept along the fence outside the house. The moon shone brightly in the sky, and he clung to the shadows so as not to be seen. Guards patrolled the grounds in pairs at regular intervals, some units accompanied by very unfriendly-looking dogs. He'd have to be careful. He slipped silently across the yard, reaching the wall of the house without incident, and crouching behind some trash cans as the guards walked past. Just as he thought he was safe, the dog that padded menacingly at the side of one guard caught his scent.  
  
Eyes widening, he sunk farther into the shadows, having nowhere else to go. The dog was pulling its handler straight toward his hiding place, barking and snarling loudly. Reno's hand tightened on his electro-rod. He could fight his way out, but that would ruin any chance he had at getting into the house tonight... Still, it was better than being eaten alive by that guard dog.  
  
He prepared to attack when suddenly the trash can to his right clattered to the ground, a small white cat sprinting across the lawn... and in the progress capturing the dog's attention. The dog proceeded to chase it, dragging the man holding its leash along for the ride. The other guard followed, trying to help regain control of the animal. Reno took the opportunity to pry open a window and slip into the house unnoticed.  
  
He found himself in what looked to be a large parlor. He quietly closed the window he'd entered through and began to look around. Even in the dark, he could tell that the room was richly, and rather tastefully, decorated. He crept into the hallway, wondering where this so-called vault could be. It would make the most sense for it to be in the basement, and so he began to search for staircases.  
  
'Where is it?' he thought as he searched through the kitchen, finding no entrance to a lower level, 'A house this big has got to have a basement...'  
  
Eventually, he found himself back in the parlor he'd started from. He sighed in frustration, leaning back against the edge of the fireplace. Suddenly, something behind him shifted, and with a soft click, a panel in the wall next to the fireplace popped open. Reno peered behind the panel and found what he'd been looking for... stairs.  
  
'Of course the secret passage would be in the first room... God forbid I don't search the entire damn house before finding it right back where I started from...' Reno silently ranted as he stepped into the dark passage, closing the panel behind him. He patted his pockets, eventually finding his lighter and flipping it open. The small flame from the lighter cast just enough of a glow to get him safely down the stairs.  
  
At the bottom of the stairs was a light switch. He clicked it on and saw a large metal door, a steel lock holding it shut. Reno smiled to himself and pulled his lockpick from a pocket.  
  
'Gotta do better than that to keep me out,' he thought as the lock surrendered to his expert touch. He set the defeated lock aside and pulled the heavy door open. The interior was brightly illuminated and he blinked as his eyes adjusted to the light. And then his jaw dropped.  
  
"Dear Holy," he whispered, awe tingeing the words. He had never in his life seen so much materia amassed in one place. It all sat neatly on shelves, all sorted by type and, he discovered upon closer inspection, by level of mastery. The shelves stretched on, he guessed, from one end of the house to the other, row after row of the faintly glowing stones.  
  
"What the hell could anyone want with this much materia?" he wondered aloud.  
  
"Wouldn't you like to know..." answered a cold voice from behind him.  
  
He pivoted, narrowly avoiding a blow to the head. The owner of the voice cursed loudly as Reno swung back with his electro-rod, striking his attacker in the chest and sending the man reeling backwards from the jolt of electricity. Suddenly, a sharp kick to the back of his knee sent Reno sprawling to the ground, knees and palms grating painfully against the concrete as his weapon slipped from his hand. He grabbed for the electro-rod, fingers coiling around it, and tried get up to strike back, only to have his arm twisted painfully behind his back by the second assailant before he could fully recover. His weapon was wrenched from his grip, and a knee came down on the small of his back, pinning him, as his free arm was twisted behind him as well. He struggled to get free.  
  
"You had to open your big mouth, didn't ya? Couldn't just stick the little twerp with the needle while he wasn't looking..." the man said to his accomplice as he fought to hold Reno down.  
  
"The hell did he hit me with?" the other muttered as he approached. Reno felt the sharp prick of a needle in his bicep and a few seconds later, he passed out.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
After what seemed like hours, Yuffie had finally managed to get one arm free. She stretched desperately, in an attempt to reach the knots that held her securely to the chair, silently cursing Reno. Suddenly, she felt the chair tilt a little too far and she fell over, shoulder colliding sharply with the floor.  
  
"Mmmph!" she yelled, the fact that the profanity was utterly unintelligible making her angrier still. But the new position did give her the angle she needed to reach the knots, and after a little manipulation, she was free. She carefully peeled the tape away from her mouth and stood up. Grabbing her weapon, she headed out the door.  
  
"I'll teach you to leave me behind, ya dumb Turk," she muttered.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Note: *giggle* The way I treat Reno, you'd think I didn't like the poor guy... So there's chapter 2. I hope I'm keeping Reno and Yuffie in character here, and not getting too carried away with the silliness in the dialogue. Anyway, reviews welcome, as are suggestions for chapter 3! :)  
  
  



	3. To the River

In a Quiet Town  
by Desha  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Chapter 3: To the River  
  
Reno awoke to find himself immobilized. Ropes dug sharply into his wrists, holding them securely behind his back. His ankles were tightly tied as well. The room he was now in was dark, and a musty, damp odor hung in the air. He could hear the muffled sound of running water somewhere in the distance as he lay facedown on the earthen floor.  
  
Reno lifted his head from the ground, trying to see, in the almost non-existent light, where exactly he was. His head spun as he did so, the aftereffects of whatever they'd given him to knock him out, and he pressed his forehead to the cool earth beneath him to calm the dizzying sensation.  
  
'Where the hell am I?' he thought. A wolf howled somewhere nearby. 'Definitely not in the basement anymore,' he told himself, 'Maybe not even in Duraman anymore.' He was suddenly beginning to wish he hadn't left Yuffie tied to a chair in his hotel room.  
  
"He awake yet?" a male voice from outside the room called.  
  
"I'll check," replied a second, and Reno heard the sound of a key turning in a lock. He snapped his eyes shut as a door opened, spilling the soft glow of moonlight across the floor.  
  
"Naw, he's still out cold," the voice continued. Reno felt himself being rolled onto his back, the rope pulling painfully at his wrists, and it took some effort not to flinch at the uncomfortable position. He recognized the second voice... It was one of the men who'd attacked him in the basement.  
  
"Good. The boss sent me to tell you to get rid of him," the first man said, entering the room. He nudged Reno with a foot, "Who do you think he is, anyway?"  
  
"Who knows? Probably just some thief," the other replied, "Come on... Time for a little fun."  
  
The man hoisted Reno onto his shoulder to carry him. With his hands and feet tied, Reno knew he didn't have much of a shot at escape. His only chance was to wait for some kind of opportunity to present itself. His captors carried him out of the room, and he dared to open his eyes. They were somewhere out in the woods that surrounded the town of Duraman, and the moonlight reflected brightly off of the surface of a wide river that meandered through the trees.  
  
'Why do I have a bad feeling about this?' Reno thought.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Yuffie crept through the darkened streets, searching for the house Reno had told her about. She'd been looking for some time now, but she was determined to find it.  
  
'If that cocky, self-absorbed, jackass thinks he's going to keep me from a vault filled with materia, he's got another thing coming to him,' she thought. So engrossed was she in mentally berating the Turk that she almost didn't notice when she came upon a house that sat ostentatiously among the other, smaller dwellings of Duraman.  
  
"That's gotta be it!" she whispered softly to herself, ducking into the hedges along the edge of the yard. She watched the guards closely, looking for any pattern to their patrols, hoping it would be easy to sneak in. But the security was tight... on alert, it seemed, watching every shadow. She wondered if Reno had anything to do with that.  
  
Just then, a tall, muscular man emerged from the house. Yuffie watched him approach one of the guards, and decided to get in closer so she could listen. She moved slowly, venturing only close enough that she could hear what was being said.  
  
"Anything interesting the report?" the man asked.  
  
"No sir. It's been quiet. Looks like our thief was on his own," the guard replied, sounding bored.  
  
"Well, keep an eye out. Garris doesn't want to take any chances."  
  
"Yes sir... By the way... What'd you do with the guy who broke into the vault anyway?"  
  
"Garris is taking care of him right now... From what I gather, our intruder is going for a late night swim in the river," the man said with a laugh, "But tonight wasn't all bad... I got a new toy to play with." He held up a slender metal rod, twirling it casually in his hand.  
  
"What is it?" asked the guard. The man from the house held the rod out and smirked when the guard took a surprised step backwards as the tip came to life with sparkling bolts of electricity.  
  
"Not sure, but it packs one hell of a punch," he answered. Yuffie's eyes widened.  
  
'Reno, you idiot... Why'd ya have to go and get yourself caught?' she thought, slowly backing away. The man said they'd taken Reno to the river. She hoped she wasn't already too late...  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Reno watched as the limited view he had of his surroundings changed from a dirt path to wooden planks. Through the cracks between the boards he could just make out the shimmer of water, and the sounds of a flowing river were crisp and clear in the night. He slowly turned his head to get a better look, hoping they hadn't figured out he was awake yet, and saw that they were on a bridge some fifteen feet above the river.  
  
"Weight him down," commanded the man who was carrying him. A moment later, Reno felt a hand wrap around his bound ankles.  
  
'Now or never,' he thought, and without warning, he kicked his feet out, hoping the second man was directly behind him... And indeed he was. Reno's feet collided hard with something solid, and the blow was met with a cry of surprise and pain. Before either of his captors could restrain him, Reno twisted to one side, throwing the man who held him off balance. Reno and the man both fell onto the wooden bridge as the first of the two captors recovered from Reno's initial kick and moved to grab their prisoner. Reno rolled onto his back and let him get just close enough that he could deliver a second violent kick to the man's chest with both feet, sending him flying off the bridge and into the water below.  
  
The small victory was short-lived, however, as he was suddenly flipped over onto his belly, and the remaining assailant straddled his back, a rough hand twisting into his hair and slamming his head into the boards. Reno grunted with the impact, and struggled but could neither loosen the ropes that held him nor get away from the man who pinned him to the ground. He cursed loudly as the man hauled him to his knees by his hair.  
  
"Nice try... Gotta give ya credit for that," said the man, releasing his grip on Reno's hair to backhand him across the face. Reno landed on his side, his cheek throbbing from the blow.  
  
"Toss him over Garris! I wanna watch the little bastard sink!" the other, who had by then had made his way back up to the bridge. He stood, dripping wet, at the end of the bridge, glaring daggers at the red-headed Turk.  
  
"So bring the weight over here!" Garris replied gruffly. The other man dragged a large sack filled with something heavy over to where Reno lay on the bridge. Reno watched as one end of a rope was tied around the sack, and felt the other secured to his own ankles.  
  
"What, you're just gonna dump me in the river? Not very creative," Reno spat.  
  
"Not creative, but amusing," Garris said, grinning. He yanked Reno back up by his hair and shoved him over the edge of the bridge so that he dangled from the rope, held up only by the weight at the other end, "Wish I could say it was nice knowing you."  
  
"Right…" Reno sneered. Garris laughed and shoved the weight off of the bridge. Reno plummeted into the chilly river water, drawing in one last breath before his body was wrenched downwards by the sinking weight.  
  
Water engulfed him, dark and murky. He looked up and caught site of the wavering image of the moon, the only source of light in his would-be grave. Reno twisted and turned, pulling at the ropes, to no avail. The weight soon hit bottom, and he floated helplessly, tethered to the riverbed. His lungs ached for a breath of air, lack of oxygen already beginning to make him feel light-headed as he thrashed under the water. No matter how he turned, he couldn't get loose. The weight was far too heavy to try and drag to a shallower area of the river, the ropes too tight to slip free. He could feel his strength fading as a sense of desperation and dread set in, and he fought to quell the rising panic. Before his eyes lay nothing but darkness. Above, the moon was a tormenting reminder of the safety he couldn't reach. His lungs felt as though they would burst, the airless space withholding that one necessity of life. The darkness of the water seemed to close in on him, and the only sound he could hear was the pounding of his own heart. His now-feeble struggles gradually became less frantic, and finally ceased altogether as consciousness slipped away.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Yuffie had followed the familiar sounds of a fight as she moved silently along the riverbed, looking for any sign of the Turk. A vicious laugh echoed in the night, and then a splash as something hit the water farther downstream. Her stomach turned at the thought of the possibilities those sounds implied. She quickened her pace, nearly sprinting right past the wooden bridge, stopping only when the brief flicker of movement of someone disappearing into the trees on the other side caught her eye, the soft sound of voices fading into the darkness.  
  
Yuffie ran to the center of the bridge, looking down at the water below and fearing the worst as she saw a thin stream of bubbles rising to the surface...  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Note: I'm sure everyone who's been reading this fic absolutely hates me for ending this chapter here... ;) So anyway, review and plead for Reno's life... uh, I mean tell me what you think. :)  
  
  



	4. Yuffie Goes Baywatch

In a Quiet Town  
by Desha  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Chapter 4: Yuffie Goes Baywatch  
  
"Reno, you idiot... You'd better not be dead," Yuffie muttered as she prepared to jump. She stepped off the bridge and into thin air, plunging into the river. She surfaced briefly to take a deep breath and then dove under the water. The current was slow, barely noticeable, and the water under the bridge was deep and murky. Yuffie swam for the bottom, finding that she couldn't see more then a few inches in any direction. She felt her way along the riverbed until she couldn't hold her breath any longer, and then kicked her way to the surface, head emerging from the water, gasping for air. She dove again, desperation growing, and searched once more, this time encountering a coarse sack with a rope tied to it. Yuffie pulled the rope toward her, and screamed, bubbles of air erupting from her mouth and escaping to the surface, the sound carried by the water in a strangely muffled echo, as she found Reno's motionless body at the other end. Using the edge of her Conformer, she sliced through the rope that held him trapped at the bottom of the river, then held onto him tightly as she swam for the surface. By the time she reached the shore, she was panting, clawing her way onto the land and dragging Reno behind her.  
  
"Um... Ok, now how did Cloud say he did this?" she wondered aloud as she knelt beside Reno, thinking back to when Cloud had told her how he'd saved a girl in Junon who'd nearly drowned.  
  
"Uh... Right... Tilt the head back... Pinch the nose," she said, following her own instructions, and leaning down to press her lips over Reno's, breathing gently into him. She felt his chest rise as she did so, but he made no other movement. She did it again, more confidant this time, but still nothing happened.  
  
"Gawd! Come on ya stupid Turk! I'm trying to save you here!"  
  
She gave him a third breath, and then a fourth, and finally Reno coughed, drawing in a strangled gasp on his own. He alternated between coughing up riverwater and gasping for air for a moment, before opening his eyes.  
  
"Y-Yuffie?" he questioned, a mixture of shock and relief evident in his aquamarine eyes.  
  
"You're not dead!" Yuffie exclaimed throwing her arms around him and hugging him in a deathgrip.  
  
"Yuffie... Let go... Can't breath..." he choked out as she squeezed him. The ninja released him.  
  
"Sorry."  
  
"You... saved me..." he said, still breathing heavily.  
  
"Yeah... Well... I'll probably regret it later," Yuffie replied.  
  
"Aw... Admit it... You could never live without me..." Reno said, managing to sound cocky despite the fact that he was still desperately trying to catch his breath.  
  
"Gawd... I can throw you right back into that river, you know," Yuffie replied, rolling her eyes.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
"There was really THAT much materia?!" Yuffie cried.  
  
"Will you keep it down? I'd rather not wake up the whole damn town," Reno hissed as the made their way back to the hotel. Entering silently, they crept up the stairs that led to their rooms. Yuffie reached out to open her door when suddenly Reno grabbed her arm.  
  
"What..."  
  
"Shhh!" Reno replied, raising a finger to his lips. He pointed to the door, which Yuffie now noticed was open just a crack, the light inside the room glowing brightly. Reno pushed the door open just wide enough to see inside.  
  
"Shit... Come on Yuffie... We're gonna have to find a safer place to spend the night," he whispered softly, as he dragged her back down the stairs.  
  
"Reno, what's going on?" she asked quietly. Reno didn't speak again until he'd led her out the back door of the hotel and halfway down the street.  
  
"My friends from the river were in your room," Reno said, "Guess they found out I wasn't here alone."  
  
"What do we do now?" Yuffie asked.  
  
"Find a place to get some rest, then tomorrow figure out what's going on and get the hell out of here."  
  
Yuffie mentally added 'steal lots of materia' to that list and nodded, "So where do we sleep? I didn't see any other hotels in town, did you?"  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Several minutes later, she found herself sitting in a shadowy alley between a bar and an items shop.  
  
"I am so not spending the night here," she said, crossing her arms stubbornly and wrinkling her nose at the smell of cheap liquor that wafted through the air from the building to her left.  
  
"Sorry princess, but you don't have much of a choice," Reno replied smugly.  
  
"Creep."  
  
"Baby," he retorted.  
  
"Jerk!"  
  
"Brat." Reno's grin widened.  
  
"I knew I'd regret pulling you out of that river," Yuffie stated, and stuck her tongue out at him. Reno smirked as he sat down beside her and leaned back against the wall of the items shop, folding his arms behind his head and closing his eyes. Yuffie glared at him, but if Reno noticed, he ignored her. Finally, she gave in and leaned back as well. A few seconds of sitting like that was all she needed to be able to tell that she'd never in a million years get to sleep in that position. She sighed and tried stretching out on her back, but that was almost worse. She curled up on her side, but no matter which way she turned, something kept poking her in the ribs.  
  
"Hey, Yuff... What's with the gymnastics?" Reno asked, raising one eyelid to watch her.  
  
"I can't get comfy!" she complained.  
  
"Well, now you know why they don't make beds out of concrete," he snickered. He watched as Yuffie continued to toss and turn.  
  
"That does it... I can't sleep like this!" Yuffie moaned in frustration.  
  
"That's your problem, brat," Reno responded with a soft laugh, and closed his eyes again. Yuffie stared at him, part of her wondering why she'd bothered to save the bastard from a watery grave, and the other part wondering how he could possibly be comfortable sitting like that.  
  
'Hmm...' she thought, 'Well, he's got to be softer than the ground. Besides... He owes me...'  
  
That thought in mind, she pounced on him, settling herself on his lap. She leaned her head on Reno's shoulder, ignoring the feel of his still-damp clothing. 'Much better,' she thought, yawning.  
  
"Uh, Yuffie... Do I *look* like a pillow?"  
  
"Yes," she stated. He sighed and silently admitted defeat. He was too tired to argue tonight, and at least she was nice and warm... a nice change from the chilly river.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
It was nearly afternoon by the time he awoke, the sound of people walking down the street interrupting a very pleasant dream. Reno woke to find himself flat on his back, one of his least favorite positions to sleep in as it always left his muscles stiff and sore. What was more, he was pinned in that position by Yuffie, who looked to be quite content sprawled across his body as though he were a mattress, head pillowed on his shoulder, her breath softly tickling the side of his neck.  
  
'Well... At least she's not as annoying when she's asleep,' he thought. He winced as she turned in her sleep, driving an elbow into his stomach, 'I take that back... She's still annoying... Just quieter.'  
  
"Come on, brat... Time to wake up," Reno said, poking her. Yuffie muttered something that sounded vaguely like "No," and curled an arm around his neck.  
  
"Hey... Sleeping Ugly..." he said, shaking her. She hugged him tighter, refusing to wake up.  
  
"Well, if that's how you're going to be..." he drawled, smirking to himself. He rolled over, taking Yuffie with him and pinning her under his body. Just as her eyes snapped open, he leaned down and kissed her as over-dramatically as humanly possible.  
  
"Mmmph!" Yuffie's startled cry was muffled into incoherency. Reno pulled away and grinned at her, taking in the malevolent expression in her eyes, and deciding it was worth having her along just to annoy the hell out of her.  
  
"You creep!" she seethed.  
  
"Well, good morning sunshine," Reno replied, grin widening. Yuffie's eyes narrowed, and Reno didn't even notice where her hand suddenly was until it collided with his face, delivering a stinging slap. Reno recoiled, rubbing his cheek.  
  
"Ow! No wonder you don't have a boyfriend," Reno said.  
  
"Are you naturally this obnoxious, or do you practice?" Yuffie retorted, noting with satisfaction the handprint now clearly emblazoned on Reno's face. She sat up and stretched.  
  
"A little of both," he replied, grin returning, "And one of these days you'll realize just how much you adore me for it..."  
  
"Gag me."  
  
"But for now, how about we just find out what all this materia hoarding is about so we can get out of here?" he continued. Yuffie brightened at the mention of materia.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
"Looks like they're a little paranoid," said Reno, as he peered over the row of hedges bordering the yard of the large house belonging to the mayor of Duraman. Several additional guards had been posted outside the house.  
  
"How are we gonna get past all that?" Yuffie asked, shoving Reno over to get a better view. Reno scowled at her, and then turned his gaze back to the property.  
  
"Very carefully," he replied, " Come on."  
  
They crept along behind the hedges. Reno suddenly stopped, and then disappeared into the bushes. A moment later, he reappeared and pulled Yuffie in with him. They emerged on the other side, a massive maple tree in front of them.  
  
"How are you at climbing?" asked Reno. In response, Yuffie swung herself into the branches with practiced ease. Reno followed her up with only a little more effort. Now above the guards, and concealed by the leaves, they hid, climbing higher, careful not to make too much noise in doing so. It soon became clear to Yuffie what Reno intended. The branches of the tree arced out, sweeping over the roof of the house. They had only to climb out onto the branches and hope they weren't seen.  
  
Reno went first, after making sure no one was watching, slipping out onto branches that looked like they shouldn't have been able to support his weight, and jumping gracefully onto the gently sloping rooftop. He waved for Yuffie to follow.  
  
Yuffie crept carefully out onto the branches, feeling them bend precariously under her own weight, and jumped... but at the same time she pushed off, she heard a loud crack as the branch she was standing on snapped. She bit back a cry of surprise and lunged for the roof, fingers falling short of the edge by a fraction of an inch. Yuffie closed her eyes, expecting as any moment to slam into the ground below, but a hand clamped tightly around her wrist and pulled her up. Before she realized what had just happened, she found herself safely on the roof, clinging to Reno's arm.  
  
"Just can't help falling for me, huh?" he said, teasingly. Yuffie groaned at the horrible pun. Getting into the house itself from the roof was simple, and soon they were exploring the second floor. Bedrooms, guest rooms... Nothing of any real interest, and no one else seemed to be on the floor with them at the moment. Just then, a door at the end of a hallway caught Reno's attention. He eased the door open, and seeing that no one was inside, he crept inside, pulling Yuffie along behind him. It seemed to be some sort of office. A large desk sat at one end of the room, its top littered with papers and files. Along one wall were a number of file cabinets, and on the opposite wall hung a huge map of the planet. Reno headed for the desk and started looking through some of the papers on top of the pile, skimming their contents briefly.  
  
"Why are you wasting time in here when we could be checking out that vault?" Yuffie asked impatiently.  
  
"Yuffie, we're not here to get that materia... We're here to find out what these people are up to."  
  
"But Reno..." she whined.  
  
"Just help me look, would ya? And don't just glance at the files... It's not like there's gonna be on labeled 'My Ingenious Plan for World Domination' or something," Reno replied, still rifling through the pile. Yuffie pouted and picked up the nearest folder.  
  
"Uh... Reno?"  
  
"What now?" he asked, looking up in annoyance. Yuffie held up the folder. Written in bold letters across the front were the words "The Plan".  
  
"You've got to be kidding me," Reno said, not sure he believed anyone would label something so obviously.  
  
"So now can we go see the vault?" Yuffie asked with a pleading note to her voice.  
  
"Let me see that," Reno replied, snatching the file from her hand. He skimmed over its contents.  
  
'Looks like I'll just have to find that vault myself,' Yuffie thought to herself as she backed away from Reno. She was out the door and down the hallway before he even looked up.  
  
"Yuffie, you're not gonna believe this, but..." Reno looked up only to find her gone, "Dammit Yuffie..." he hissed, "Why can't you just do what you're told for once?"  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Note: I wonder how much longer I can go without telling what the purpose of having all that materia is? *begs and pleads for more reviews*  
  



	5. My Ingenious Plan for World Domination

In a Quiet Town  
by Desha  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Chapter 5: My Ingenious Plan for World Domination  
  
Yuffie snuck down the wide staircase, watching for any guards that might have been lingering on the ground floor, but it seemed that whoever was in charge was overconfident in the abilities of the guards outside the house. The only person she saw as she crept along the hallway was the tall man she'd eavesdropped on the night before... and he was still in possession of Reno's electro-rod. Yuffie watched him enter a room at the end of the hall. Once he was out of sight, she decided to get a little closer and see what he was up to.  
  
"I don't like it. The owner of that hotel said he had a girl with him," said a deep, rich voice, "I don't want anyone getting in my way. Not when I'm so close..."  
  
Yuffie peeked around the door, careful not to be seen. Three men stood, gathered around the hearth of the parlor. One was the man she'd followed to the room. The second was a shorter, stockier man, with a build that clearly betrayed several years of fighting experience of one kind or another.  
  
"She's probably off looking for that red-haired friend of her's. She doesn't know Garris sank him to the bottom of the river last night. Whoever she is, she'll never find him and eventually give up, right bro?" the taller of the two said, slapping the other on the back. The third man in the room shook his head. He was older that the other two, though not be much, and dressing in a deep purple suit. Short-cropped brown hair, neatly combed and styled, framed his pale face. His dark eyes held a look of superiority and contempt as he sneered at the two men before him.  
  
"I would rather not take that chance, Riley," he snapped. The man who'd been addressed shrugged and twirled Reno's electro-rod casually in one hand.  
  
"We'll find her and get rid of her, Curtis," Garris said, elbowing the one addressed as Riley in the ribs.  
  
"Yeah," Riley agreed, "After all, if ya can't count on family, who can ya count on?"  
  
Yuffie backed away quietly from the door as Garris and Riley turned to leave the room. She hurried down the hall, ducking into another room before she could be seen, and found herself in a fairly good-sized library.  
  
"Wish that stupid Turk had told me where exactly the secret passage was," she muttered in annoyance as she experimentally tugged on several random books on the shelf in the hopes that one of them would open a hidden door. Yuffie suddenly froze, and then darted behind one of the plush, velvet curtain that framed the large window, as the sound of the turning doorknob alerted her to the arrival of a possible threat. From her hiding place, she caught a quick glimpse of a purple suit as it approached the bookshelves to her left for a moment, and then settled in a chair. From where the man sat, he'd be able to see the entire room.  
  
'Oh great! Now I'm stuck here until this guy leaves!' she thought, knowing that being seen now would mean she'd never have a chance to find that materia.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
'Where the hell are you Yuffie?' Reno wondered as he cautiously explored the ground floor of the house. As tempting as the idea was to leave the young ninja behind to fend for herself, he knew he'd never be able to do it. Yuffie was an irritating, whiny, thieving little pain in the ass... but he did owe her his life after all... And besides that, he was getting used to having the little urchin around.  
  
Suddenly the loud report of a gunshot echoed through the hallway, and he spun around, expecting to see someone shooting at him. He found no one there, but the first shot was followed by a second and a third, and he quickly pinpointed their source as being a room in the direction he'd just come from.  
  
"Yuffie..." he hissed, as he realized there was only one other person in the house besides himself they'd be shooting at. He sprinted in the direction of the shots.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Yuffie dove behind a chair as the second shot shattered the window behind her. She briefly wondered how one person could have such lousy luck. As the third shot embedded itself in the plushly upholstered chair, she instead began to wonder why she'd picked such a stupid place to hide. Mere moments ago, the man she heard referred to as Curtis had apparently decided that the library was not lit well enough. His solution? Open the curtains, of course... at which point he'd discovered the young ninja, and with a calm expression on his face, had drawn a gun and opened fire. Her agility had saved her from the first shot, as she'd used the thick material of the curtains to partially conceal herself and dart away before the man could properly take aim. Even so, the bullet had grazed her shoulder. She'd barely had time to avoid the second shot, but now, crouched behind the chair, she was about to take the opportunity to retaliate.  
  
Glancing at the Contain materia on her armor, which she had conveniently "borrowed" from Cloud before she'd left on this god-forsaken trip, she quickly cast Freeze, watching as the translucent stone glowed with a cold, grayish light. A soft shimmer, like snowflakes reflecting the sunlight, danced around her adversary as the ice crystals that would soon encase him began to form in the air. Yuffie stood, preparing to make a run for it before any of the house's security showed up, but then something she wasn't expecting happened...  
  
Curtis laughed as the magical glow moved away from him, as though loath to touch him. And then, without and farther warning, Yuffie found herself surrounded by the power of her own spell, feeling the air turn icy all around her, and then she suddenly couldn't move. The ice seemed to flow over her body, solidifying as it wrapped around her in a thick layer, colder even that the barren snowfields of the Great Glacier. There was no air inside the ice and no room to take a breath had there been, so tightly was she entombed. Yuffie could feel the heat being leeched from her body, unable to move even enough to shiver. Through the crystalline wall, clear as cut glass, the room was a kaleidoscope of images, reflections mirrored at odd angles to create a tapestry of confusion. It took her stunned mind a moment to sort it all out, but she eventually caught sight of a ring on the man's right hand that seemed to glow with the same color as Yuffie's materia had... a reflect ring. The ice prison shattered and she dropped to the ground, shaking uncontrollably. Her opponent stood over her, gun pointed at her head, with an expression that clearly said "Don't even try to move".  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
"Hold it right there!" an all-too-familiar voice called. Reno muttered a curse under his breath and halted in his run for the room the shots had come from, turning to see a gun aimed at him.  
  
"Why couldn't you have just stayed dead?" Garris asked him in a mockingly annoyed tone, "I'm a busy man... I don't have time to go around killing you over and over again."  
  
"Yeah, well, I have this thing about dying... It's not something I like to do," Reno replied. Garris motioned for him to turn around, and then nudged him in the direction of the room he'd been heading for in the first place. A second man stood beside the now-open door, and though Reno didn't recognize the face, he had a pretty good idea who he was as he watched the man idly tapping a long, slender weapon against his thigh.  
  
"It's not nice to take things that don't belong to you," Reno growled as the man as he was escorted into the room. The response came in the form of a painful shock from the weapon delivered to Reno's ribcage. He staggered and fell to one knee, but quickly recovered, glad at least that the guy had figured out how the settings on the electro-rod worked... and somewhat grateful that it hadn't been set any higher...  
  
"Cut it out Riley," said Garris, "Plenty of time for that later." He shoved Reno forward, closer to where a third man stood, gun pointed at something behind a chair.  
  
"I'm disappointed Garris... You told me he was dead," he said, stepping back a bit, but his aim never wavering, "Take the girl's weapons... And her materia... She's got quite a lot."  
  
Riley complied, collecting the small stones from Yuffie's armor and relieving her of her Conformer.  
  
"Take them both downstairs," Curtis ordered, before leaving the room.  
  
"Pretty lousy taste in partners," Garris remarked, glancing at Yuffie's shivering form, and shoving Reno forward again, "Carry her."  
  
Reno bit back the nasty reply he was about to make, instead grudgingly doing as he was told and scooping Yuffie into his arms.  
  
"C-cold..." she whispered against his chest, teeth chattering as her body tried to warm up, the plaintive word tugging at Reno's heart... a fact which he was none too thrilled by, and he wondered when he'd started to care what befell his one-time enemy. He quickly shook the thought from his head, deciding that he just felt sorry for the brat. But still, he held her a little closer, offering what warmth he could as Garris motioned for him to follow Riley out of the room.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
"Well, now that we're all here," said the man in the purple suit, "Allow me to introduce myself... Curtis Torran. I believe you two have already met my younger brothers..."  
  
He gestured to Garris and Riley. Where the man had seemed contemptuous and irritated by the presence of two intruders before, he now acted almost as though he were making some sort of game out of the whole situation. To say the least, the idea bothered Reno.  
  
Yuffie had recovered a bit from her failed attack. The occasional chill still ran down her spine, but she had all but forced Reno to set her down, and now stood, glaring at the three men who had captured them.  
  
"I have to admit, I'm impressed," Curtis continued, standing in front of the large door that Reno knew led into the materia vault, "You've breached my security not once, but twice... and apparently *you* have come back from the dead..."  
  
He looked pointedly at Reno, the tone of his voice clearly relating his displeasure for the fact, though the Turk couldn't be sure if it was directed at him or at the man's brother who had failed to dispose of him.  
  
"But I suppose that can be remedied easily enough," he said, and he turned and unlocked the door to the vault. As the door swung open, revealing the rows of materia-laden shelves inside, Reno stole a glance at Yuffie. She was standing beside him, wide-eyed, mouth agape, staring into the room where the crystalline stones glittered and glowed.  
  
"You... you weren't exaggerating..." Yuffie said quietly, unable to take her eyes off of the treasure trove of materia that lay before her. She had only dreamt of seeing so much materia in one place. 'Just think what I could do with all that,' was the only thought that ran through her mind, eyes wandering over the shelves that stretched clear to the other end of the house. Garris prodded her with his gun.  
  
"Move it, girl..."  
  
Reno was similarly urged forward by Riley... except that his motivation came in the form of another shock from Riley's ill-gotten electro-rod. Reno bit his lower lip to stifle the surprised, and moderately pained cry, not wanting to give the man the satisfaction of hearing it. The two prisoners followed Curtis into the vault as he meandered through the maze of shelves, their guards never more than a step or two behind.  
  
"I suppose that the tradition here would be for the villain to divulge the secrets of his master plan to the... hmph... heroes... before inflicting upon them a gruesome death of some sort," Curtis said, halting in front of a small wooden door inside the vault.  
  
"You've been watching too many late night spy movies," Reno snorted, and was rewarded with yet another shock from his electro-rod. He turned and glared at Riley, ignoring Curtis' bemused laughter, "You're getting way too fond of that thing, ya know that?"  
  
"Well, if you're not interested in hearing about my plan, I suppose we can skip straight to the gruesome death part..." Curtis said, drawing the Turk's attention back to him.  
  
"Wouldn't want to break with tradition," Reno replied, hoping to stall for time until her could figure out a way to get both Yuffie and himself out of the vault without being shot or electrocuted, and then past the security outside the house.  
  
"Wonderful... Well, stated simply, I plan to rule the world," said Curtis.  
  
"Rule the world, huh? Yeah... That's real original. Never heard that one before. So how are you going to do it? Use millions of Manipulate materias to control the minds of everyone on the planet? Oh wait... I know... You're going to start a world-wide materia shortage, and then when everyone is desperate for the stuff they'll do whatever you say... Or maybe you're going to... OW!" Reno was cut off mid-sentence by Riley, who had increased the setting on the electro-rod while the young Turk was mocking his captor. Reno turned to look at him again, "You know something? You're really starting to tick me off..."  
  
"Are you ready to die so soon, or shall I continue?" asked Curtis, patience wearing thin.  
  
"Oh, continue, by all means..." Reno drawled. Yuffie looked at him, silently wondering if he was actually *trying* to get them killed. She got the feeling that Curtis was wondering the same thing. In reality, Reno was trying to keep him talking, suspecting that the more he proclaimed Curtis' idea impossible, the more details the man would reveal to prove him wrong.  
  
"Very well... As you may know, materia is nothing more than crystallized mako energy. My father spent his entire life researching and studying materia, and he came to an interesting conclusion... That if there were a crystal large enough, its power would be unimaginable. He theory was that it may even be able to control the Lifestream itself... Of course *he* wanted to infuse the power of such a crystal back into the planet to restore the mako energy that Shin-Ra's reactors have extracted. He wanted to revitalize the planet and make amends for the damage humans have done... He was a fool. I, on the other hand see the true potential of such power," Curtis said, his eyes taking on a faraway, almost dreamlike quality, "Just think of it... A massive crystal of materia, with the power of every known type... A crystal that, according to popular belief, draws upon the knowledge of the Ancients infused in the Lifestream. Its reach would be worldwide. I could cast a spell here, and have it wreak havoc in Mideel, or Wutai, or even Midgar..."  
  
Yuffie's silence abruptly ended, "Yeah right... And just where is this incredibly powerful materia gonna come from?" Her tone mirrored Reno's previous scornful disbelief at the feasibility of this so-called plan, and in fact, Reno had been about the ask that exact question, having not read that far in the file he'd found upstairs before Yuffie had run off. Curtis chuckled gleefully.  
  
"That's what all this is for," he explained, "You see... I'm going to make one. Of course there's still the small matter of raising a proper army to take care of anyone who might fight back... and I still need quite a few more of the smaller crystals to accomplish my goal... but the first can be easily obtained with the right amount of money, and the people of Duraman have graciously volunteered to help with the second of those problems. It was so very easy to obtain their cooperation, too... After all, undoing the damage Shin-Ra has caused is such a noble goal... and people have a tendency to believe in noble goals. They even go out of their way to keep it a secret in order to protect all their hard work from thieves like you two. In fact, you are the only people who have come snooping around since we started."  
  
"Wait a minute... back up," Reno said skeptically, still looking for some route of escape, "What do you mean you're gonna *make* your own materia?"  
  
Even as he uttered the question, Reno was going over the possibilities of escape. There were no windows in the vault... Garris and Riley were sufficiently blocking the way they'd come in, and even if he and Yuffie got past them, they'd still have to contend with the guards outside. They could try making a run for the small wooden door that Curtis stood beside in the hopes that the two men behind them wouldn't risk shooting their brother to stop them, but Reno had no idea what was on the other side of that door... perhaps an exit, or perhaps a dead end.  
  
"Simple geochemistry. Materia is nothing more than a crystal... I propose to take all of these small crystals and recrystalize them into one big one," Curtis said, his voice interrupting Reno's thoughts, "First, I will crush them into a fine powder, and then dissolve that powder in a solvent. By letting that solvent evaporate, the solution with solidify into one massive crystal..."  
  
Curtis opened the door beside him, a dangerous smile on his face.  
  
"Well, now that you know my plan, I think it's time for you two to die," he said calmly. Reno was suddenly thrust into the room by Riley, accompanied by a gratuitous shock from the electro-rod. He landed on a cold metal floor after falling down a good four feet from the level of the door, rolling onto his back and looking up just in time to see Yuffie practically thrown through the door after him. Yuffie squeaked in surprise as she discovered that the floor wasn't where she'd expected it to be. She landed with a quiet grunt on top of something relatively soft. Her landing was met by a loud groan from beneath her.  
  
"And this," Curtis called down to them, "is where the materia will eventually be crushed. I realize that you two aren't exactly of the same chemical make-up as materia, but it should still have a similar effect... If a bit messy..." With that, he slammed the door shut, leaving them in darkness.  
  
"Yuffie, you need to go on a diet," Reno said, shoving her off of him, "Are you alright?"  
  
"Yeah," she replied, "Your ribs broke my fall."  
  
Reno sat up in the darkness. He had the distinct feeling that the young ninja was smirking at him. He winced as a sharp pain shot through his side as he took a breath.  
  
"I think your fall broke my ribs," he groaned, tentatively pressing a hand to the injury.  
  
"I... I think we have bigger problems to worry about than a few cracked ribs..." said Yuffie, as a loud mechanical hum filled the air and the room began to vibrate.  
  
"Damn... Yuffie, come on... Help me look for a way out of here!" Reno replied, climbing to his feet and feeling his way along the smooth, seamless wall of the pit. He wasn't sure if the floor was moving up, or if the ceiling was coming down, but either way, they were quickly running out of space in the little room. His fingertips grazed the bottom edge of the door they'd come through, finding that the ceiling had already blocked most of the entrance. He cursed softly and hit the door with his fist in frustration.  
  
"Reno?" Yuffie's voice called out to him from the opposite side of their prison, "There's no way out of here... is there?"  
  
Reno made his way back over to her, noting the disheartened tone in the young ninja's words.  
  
"Doesn't look like it at the moment," he replied truthfully, wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her closer to him, choosing not to ignore the strange desire to comfort her.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Note: Reno and Yuffie were crushed to a bloody pulp. Curtis had the room cleaned and proceeded to make his giant materia and take over the world. The end...   
  
*notices all of the threatening looks she getting*  
  
Uh... hee hee... just kidding. ;) To find out what really happens, review and badger me to write Chapter 6! :)  



	6. Escape

In a Quiet Town  
by Desha  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Chapter 6: Escape  
  
Yuffie laid her cheek on Reno's chest, closing her eyes despite the impenetrable blackness that surrounded them, trying not to think about the droning hum of the machinery that was the driving force behind their imminent death. She never would have imagined that her last moments on the planet would be spent in the company of a Turk... and of all the Turks, it just had to be Reno. And yet, it was something of a comfort to have him there... to know that she wasn't alone. Out of nowhere, the thought suddenly occurred to her that Reno could have just left her behind. He'd had the file with that bastard's plan right in his hand - that was all he'd really come for - but instead of abandoning her and leaving her to her own defenses, he'd come looking for her... and gotten himself caught in the process.  
  
'Some hero...' he thought, barely even a half-hearted insult. She was grateful he hadn't just run off, even if he hadn't been able to save her. The nagging fact that this was all her fault clawed at her mind... If she'd only stayed with him instead of going after the materia... He had every right to be furious with her right now, but here he was, comforting her as best he could, his arms wrapped around her now in a protective embrace... He had surprisingly strong arms for someone who looked so damn scrawny...  
  
It seemed like she could actually feel the room getting smaller. She couldn't be sure how quickly whatever space remained was closing up, and the more she thought about it, the more she didn't think she wanted to know. A building sense of claustrophobia threatened the precarious hold on the panic that was welling up inside of her. She didn't want to die. She tried to think of other things... of her friends, of Wutai, of her father... tried to picture them... but instead found herself saying goodbye to them in her mind, one by one. She wondered if Reno was doing the same. She wondered if he was saying goodbye to Elena and Rude. Was there anyone else? Yuffie suddenly found herself wishing she'd gotten to know him better... but she'd blinded herself, seeing only the arrogant womanizer and the cold, hard killer that she kept insisting to herself that he was... and now, alone with him here, neither of those exteriors fit anymore, and she felt a little ashamed and very childish for never having given him the chance to show her who he really was.  
  
She realized that she'd lost all sense of time... didn't know how long her thoughts had been going in circles... didn't quite know why her thoughts kept coming back to Reno. His hands gently rubbed soothing patterns on her back, and the room felt smaller still. 'How long til we won't even be able to stand up?' she wondered morbidly. That question was answered a moment later when Reno pulled her down to sit on the cold metal floor, never letting go of her for a second. His hand pressed against the small of her back, lifting her onto his lap. It reminded her of the night before when they fallen asleep together in the alley... She'd felt his arms around her then, too, just before she'd fallen asleep.  
  
It took her a moment for her mind to return to the present and notice that the Turk's hand was lingering at her back, against her waist... She felt his body tense as the nimble fingers behind her tugged lightly at the belt that encircled her waist.  
  
"Reno?" she questioned, but just as his name left her lips, he suddenly pulled away from her, and for a moment she thought she was imagining things when she saw a dim glow in the pitch black of the room... a soft green that shone against the pale skin of Reno's hand, providing only enough light to see his thin fingers curled around the faintly illuminated crystalline orb.  
  
"Oh my god..." Yuffie gasp, her hand reaching behind her to the small pouch she wore at her belt, "They must have missed that one when they took the rest of my materia..."  
  
She'd only been vaguely aware of what was happening at the time, still dazed and half-frozen from her failed attack on Curtis.  
  
"Yuffie... Please tell me this is something we can use to get out of here..." said Reno. Yuffie searched her mind, trying to remember what kind of materia she'd put into the pouch. Earth... It had to be Earth materia... She distinctly remembered placing an Earth materia into the pouch because there hadn't been any more room for it in her armor or weapon... A fact which she quickly related to Reno, her voice trembling with renewed hope. Reno reached out to her, pulling her along with him as he scrambled across the floor, until his back hit the wall.  
  
"I don't know if this is gonna work, but considering the alternative..." he said, leaving the sentence unfinished, squeezing her hand gently.  
  
"Just do it!" she nearly screamed, her free hand clamping down on his arm in a white-knuckled grip as though she feared he might somehow be taken from her now. She involuntarily held her breath as Reno cast a Quake spell.  
  
The room shook, a much more violent vibration than before, as seismic waves rippled outward from the center of the floor, the glow from the materia intensifying and casting its eerie light into the darkness. They watched as the floor began to buckle, rippling in metallic waves until it could stand no more, splitting and cracking, twisting itself apart at the crests of the ripples to reveal the stone foundation below. The vibrations moved outward, channeling up the walls, deforming and bending them. Reno pulled Yuffie against him, not sure if this was any better than being crushed. Yuffie let a muffled sob escape, the sound drowned out by the roar created by the mechanical equipment and the magically powered earthquake. There was the loud, earsplitting squeal of metal on metal, as the ceiling continued its descent, trying to move downward against the buckled walls, sparks erupting from the edges where the two surfaces fought to move past each other.  
  
The waves generated by the Quake spell rippled their way into the ceiling above them... The glow of the materia glinted off the polished surface now, revealing just how dangerously close it was. The room was shaking... the entire room. The floor, the walls, the ceiling, all trembling, each with its own rhythm... a dangerous percussion that threatened to tear the prison apart.  
  
The ceiling gave out at last, the central piston that had apparently been driving the metal plate downward skewering through it as if it were paper, embedding itself in the floor with a shattering thud that reverberated painfully in Yuffie's ears. With a final screech, the ceiling stopped moving, but only for a moment before it cracked, breaking apart across its diameter, half of it falling and sending out more sparks as it crashed to the floor mere inches from where Reno and Yuffie were huddled, light spilling in from above. She was blinded by the sudden illumination, but then Reno was pulling her to her feet, guiding her out from under the other half that balanced uncertainly above them, held by the protruding portions of the wall. She blinked, eyes adjusting to the light, and wondered why everything was still shaking. Surely the spell should have subsided by now. And then she realized that it was she who was trembling, in part from utter terror, and also from the sheer relief of knowing that she and Reno were suddenly safe. She looked up at the Turk, noticing that despite the grin he now wore, he looked as pale and shaken as she felt, and she almost laughed at the odd combination of expressions. Instead, she threw her arms around him, ecstatic to be alive. Reno hissed in pain.  
  
"Ah! Yuffie... not so tight," he cried. She quickly released him, confused until she suddenly remembered the loud crack she'd heard when she'd landed on his after being tossed into the room.  
  
"God, I'm sorry Reno... I didn't mean to..."  
  
"Aw, don't worry... I'll be fine," Reno reassured her, "Besides... A few cracked ribs are the least of our problems. We still have to get out of this town."  
  
Yuffie looked around at the wreckage and nodded.  
  
"Come on..." said Reno, as he climbed onto the twisted metal, headed for the door to the room that had been forced open, hanging from its hinges at an odd angle. The debris beneath his feet, which had once been the ceiling of the room, shifted and creaked with his added weight, but held as he pulled himself up and through the doorway. Reaching a hand down to Yuffie, he helped her up as well. They looked around at the vault, taking notice of the materia that was now scattered everywhere in a disorganized mess, some of it still on the shelves, some on the floor.  
  
"The whole house probably felt that spell," said Yuffie. Reno was about to agree, suggesting that they get out before someone showed up to check things out, when a gunshot echoed throughout the massive room. Not knowing for certain where the shot had come from, Reno pushed Yuffie to the ground, nearly landing on top of her in his own dive for cover.  
  
"Get them!" yelled an irate voice from the opposite end of the vault. Reno recognized it immediately as Curtis. From his position on the floor, Reno couldn't tell how many guards were with him.  
  
"Looks like we're gonna have to fight our way out of here," he said to Yuffie, reaching for the nearest materia orb. As a hail of gunfire riddled the wall behind them, Reno crept closer to their attackers, looking down at the crystal in his hand. Yuffie hear him quietly cast a spell, and a wall of flame erupted across the room. She could hear one of the men screaming and a commotion as others tried to help him. She quickly collected a number of the scattered orbs, placing them into the slots on her armor, and moved toward Reno to help.  
  
"Don't try to cast anything on Curtis," she warned him, keeping her head down as the shooting from the other side of the room resumed, "He's wearing a Reflect ring."  
  
Reno nodded, and then the two of them let loose a flurry of spells... everything from Ice to Demi... easily taking down most of their opponents. Suddenly, the air came alive with the crackle of electricity, and Yuffie looked up just in time to see a bolt of lightning streaking through the air, striking Reno and sending him flying backwards.  
  
"Reno!" Yuffie cried, staring for a moment in horror as the Turk's body convulsed for a few seconds before going still. She cast an Ice spell on the guard who'd attacked him before scrambling to Reno's side. He groaned softly as she rolled him onto his back.  
  
"Garris! Riley! Get back there and finish them off," Curtis ordered. Yuffie soon heard the sound of the two men's heavy footsteps coming toward her.  
  
"Reno, come on... Wake up," she whispered loudly, shaking the unconscious man. His eyelids fluttered and opened.  
  
"What..."  
  
"I've never met anyone as hard to kill as you two!" Garris' voice growled. Yuffie turned to see a gun leveled at her head. Riley stood to his left, "Grab the girl."  
  
Riley seized her arm, dragging her to her feet. She watched as Garris kicked Reno brutally in the side when he tried to get up, eliciting a near-scream from the injured Turk. Yuffie winced empathetically, knowing that the kick had only done more damage to Reno's already-broken ribs.  
  
"I should have just done it like this in the first place," said Garris, pointing the gun at Reno's head.  
  
Time seemed to slow down for Yuffie as she realized that if they were going to get out of here alive, it was up to her. She glared at Riley before twisting her body to get away from him... but his grip on her arm was tight, and he'd expected her to fight back. In desperation, she slammed her weight against him, and as he fought to keep his balance and retain his grip on her, Yuffie sank her teeth into his arm. She bit down hard, tasting blood and ignoring the man's yelp.  
  
'Didn't expect that, did ya?' she thought as his grip loosened just enough that she could break free, and she threw herself in Garris' direction, tackling him. The gun fired, but the bullet missed its target... just barely. Garris flung the young ninja away from him. She recovered quickly only to see Riley advancing toward her. He lunged, but she was ready this time, dodging the attempted strike from the electro-rod in his hand and countering with a painful kick to his shin followed by an uppercut that sent him reeling backwards into one of the shelves, Reno's stolen electro-rod clattering to the floor. Yuffie dove for it before the man could get back up.  
  
Reno, meanwhile, was wrestling Garris for possession of the gun, Yuffie's unexpected attack having given him the opportunity to take a more defensive position. He'd seen the gun drop from Garris' hand and leapt for it just as Yuffie had been tossed aside. He and Garris had reached for the gun at the same time, and now each struggled to get it away from the other, as well as trying to avoid being shot into the scuffle.  
  
"Reno! Catch!" Yuffie shouted, tossing the electro-rod in his direction before turning back to handle Riley. The Turk dared to loose one hand from his grip on the gun, grabbing his own weapon. Garris jerked the gun away from Reno, but it was already too late. The electro-rod jammed painfully into his gut, searing pain overwhelming his nerves as his body convulsed, electricity sizzling from the weapon, and them went limp. Reno rolled away, having only to glance at the agonized look on the man's face to know he was no longer a threat... that despite his shaky breathing, he probably wouldn't live much longer. He forced himself to his feet, intent on helping Yuffie deal with the other one, but found that she'd already taken care of him.  
  
"You look like Hell," Yuffie stated. Was that a note of concern he heard in her voice?  
  
"I'll live," Reno replied, looking down at Riley who was only just starting to come to his senses. Reno stepped forward and shocked him back into a more helpless state with his newly-regained weapon before looking around for Curtis. Unsurprisingly, he was gone.  
  
"Give me a hand with these two... I doubt they're gonna be doing much any time soon, but I'd feel better if they were locked up."  
  
Yuffie nodded and helped Reno shove the two men unceremoniously into the room that she and the Turk had just escaped from. Reno blocked the door by tipping over one of the heavy shelves in front of it.  
  
"Alright... Let's go," said Reno, as he turned around to face his accomplice, "Yuffie, what are you doing?"  
  
Yuffie grinned sheepishly at the exasperated tone of Reno's voice, and shrugged... which in itself was quite a feat, as her arms were laden with materia.  
  
"Put it down..." Reno ordered.  
  
"But..."  
  
"Just how far do you think we're going to get with you hauling around an armload of materia?!"  
  
Yuffie sighed and dropped the materia. He was right. She didn't know what she'd been thinking. It was her greed for the translucent stones that had gotten them into this mess in the first place.  
  
"Ok, ok... Let's just go," she said, glancing at Reno apologetically.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Note: I know... I didn't give much attention to Reno's thoughts in this chapter... I'll try to make up for that in Chapter 7. So what did you think? Was my escape scenario believable? As usual, please review. :)  
  



	7. To Tell the Truth

In a Quiet Town  
by Desha  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Chapter 7: To Tell the Truth  
  
Reno did his best to ignore the mournful expression on Yuffie's face as he hurried her out of the vault, forcing her to pass up all of the materia that surrounded them.  
  
'Must be torture for the little brat,' he thought, am amused smile crossing his lips. Of course her lust for materia had saved their lives not too long ago. If she hadn't had that Earth materia...  
  
On the other hand, it was because of the irritating young thief's never-ending quest for those magical stones that they'd been caught in the first place. 'Immature little...' He didn't have time to finish the thought before they were standing at the base of the stairs that would lead them up into the rest of the house.  
  
"Careful... They'll be waiting for us," he warned.  
  
"Well, duh," Yuffie snorted as Reno began to ascend the stairs. His grip tightened on his weapon, his body tense and ready to fight despite the protesting injuries. He pushed open the door at the top of the stairs, expecting an ambush... and finding an empty room. The silence in the parlor was thick enough to cut, and Reno nearly jumped out of his skin when Yuffie gasped in delight and rushed past him, seizing her Conformer from where it had been discarded beside a chair.  
  
"Yuffie!" he hissed, "What are you trying to do? Get yourself killed?! We don't know where Curtis and his flunkies are hiding and you go running out into the open like that? Are you crazy?"  
  
It was all he could do to force himself not to grab her and shake some sense into her. How could she be so careless?  
  
"Just stay behind me," he ordered before she could make any response at all to his slew of questions. She was going to drive him insane. How was he supposed to watch out for her when she kept running headlong into trouble? And it certainly didn't help that she never did a damn thing he told her to... He couldn't protect her if she kept running off. He briefly wondered if he could just put her on a leash or something...  
  
Reno halted in midstride, trying to figure out when the hell he'd decided to assume responsibility for her safety. He shook the thought away quickly, knowing that this was neither the time nor the place to try to sort out such concerns. He needed to keep his mind focused on the situation at hand, or neither one of them were going to make it home in one piece.  
  
Down the hallway, past the doors and windows, and they saw no one... The house was as silent as the first room they'd entered after emerging from the vault, and it seemed that not a soul had remained behind to guard the store of materia in the basement. Reno cautiously peered out one of the front windows... Even the guards who'd been dutifully patrolling the grounds behind the border of hedges had disappeared.  
  
"What the hell is going on?" Reno asked, more to himself than to Yuffie, "This doesn't make any sense..."  
  
"I don't know, but I say we run for it... If they're somewhere out there, waiting for us, sitting around here won't do us any good," said Yuffie, and as much as he hated to admit it, Reno knew she was right. Their only other option would be to barricade themselves in one of the rooms and wait for Curtis and his men to get tired of this little mind game and come in after them. Either option seemed to involve about the same chance of he and Yuffie escaping... and Reno had never been a particularly patient person.  
  
"Come on... We'll go out the back..." said Reno.  
  
"Yeah, but what if that's what they're expecting?" Yuffie asked.  
  
'Damn,' thought Reno, 'She's got a point.'  
  
But before he could agree or disagree, Yuffie had already bolted for the front door and was preparing to open it. Reno hurried after her, weapon ready. Yuffie made one final check of the materia in her armor, and turned the doorknob. There was no one in the yard as they made their way to the gate, each watching the other's back, but Reno knew better than to get complacent. There was still that wall of hedges that bordered the yard. He couldn't see over them, but he had a feeling that someone... or rather several someones... lurked behind the greenery, just waiting for he and Yuffie to get close enough. Heart pounding in anticipation of an attack, he quickened his pace, placing himself between Yuffie and the hedges.  
  
Just as he'd suspected, the guards were lying in wait. They sprang from the tall bushes, emerging mere feet from where Reno stood. He fell back a step, ready for the attack, and brought his electro-rod down hard on the arm of the nearest guard. The loud crack of breaking bones sounded with the impact, and the man released the gun he'd been holding, clutching the injured arm to his chest in surprise.  
  
"Say goodnight, kiddo," Reno said, falling the young guard with a jolt from the electro-rod. 'One down,' he thought, sparing a glance at Yuffie long enough to see her deliver a roundhouse kick to one of the men closing in on her, sending him careening into a second.  
  
But the hedges concealed more than just a few guards, and soon the yard had become a battleground, with Reno and Yuffie fighting for their lives. What they lacked in experience, they made up for in numbers, grossly outnumbering their targets. Reno was quick to realize that with odds like the ones he and Yuffie were facing, what they really needed was an opening... a chance to run. If they could put some distance between themselves and Curtis' security force, they'd at least have a chance.  
  
A man grabbed Reno from behind, pulling his arms behind his back while a second attacker aimed a punch at the restrained Turk's gut. Reno pulled his knees to his chest, using the man behind him for leverage, and kicked the one attacking, throwing the first off-balance and sending the second staggering back. He broke away from the man who held him just in time to see the opening he'd been waiting for.  
  
"Yuffie! Run!" he called, turning to see her send a man to the ground with an Ice spell. They ran for the hedges, slipping past guards still on their feet, and running out onto the street. The sight that greeted them brought them to a dead stop.  
  
"Reno!" Yuffie's voice cried, tinged with alarm. Reno spun away from the crowd of people he suddenly had found himself facing, and turned to look at her. She'd only been a few steps behind him... but Curtis now held her at gunpoint, one arm wrapped tightly around her waist, the barrel of the gun pressed underneath Yuffie's chin. The guards they'd just been fighting were amassed behind the man and his hostage.  
  
"It seems you were right... I have been watching too many late night spy movies," said Curtis, "So this time, I'm just going to shoot you both."  
  
Angry murmurs of approval rippled through the crowd.  
  
"What'd you do? Call out the entire town to help you?" Reno replied, narrowing his eyes at Curtis.  
  
"You can't steal our materia and get away with it!" yelled some one in the crowd.  
  
"Thieves!"  
  
"Planet killers!"  
  
To say the air was tense would be an understatement. The people surrounding them looked ready to lynch the two interlopers... and Reno doubted that any amount of sarcasm would stall Curtis this time.  
  
"You see?" Curtis said, raising his voice to be heard by the crowd, "The people of Duraman have worked long and hard at collecting this materia, all for the good of the planet... They're working to repair at least some of the damage that's been done... And they're not going to let the likes of you ruin this!"  
  
A cheer went up from the crowd.  
  
"Yeah... Why don't you tell 'em what you're really planning to do with all that materia," Reno hissed through clenched teeth, "See if they cheer for you then..."  
  
A sadistic sort of smile crossed Curtis' face... but Reno was more interested in what Yuffie was doing. She was perfectly still except for one hand, flexing her fingers ever so slowly as if anticipating something... waiting for just the right moment. And then, apparently that moment arrived. Her hand moved upwards, fingers curling around Curtis' hand, and in one deft movement, those fingers, that could pluck a piece of materia right out of a person's armor without anyone noticing, slid the Reflect ring off the man's hand. Reno glanced subtly down at the fire materia he'd taken from the vault.  
  
"Is that that the best you can do?" hissed Curtis, somehow catching the thief in the act... but not before Yuffie had a chance to toss the ring off into the crowd of townspeople. He tightened his grip on her waist. At the same time, Reno tightened his grip on the electro-rod.  
  
"Let her go," said Reno, threat made clear in his tone.  
  
"You're hardly in a position to make demands," Curtis replied, the gun still pointed at Yuffie, "But go ahead... Try to attack me. Think you can take me down before I shoot you're girlfriend here?"  
  
"Eww! I am so not his girlfriend!" Yuffie cried.  
  
"Well good... Then you won't mind me shooting him first. He has, after all, caused me far more trouble than you have..." Curtis replied, redirecting his aim at the seething Turk. Everything... Reno's instincts, his training, past experience... all of it told him to cut his losses and run for it. He could hit Curtis with a Fire spell and hope it caused enough confusion and blind rage amongst the crowd that he could escape. It was a longshot at best, but standing around waiting to be shot wasn't exactly a pleasant alternative.  
  
But Yuffie... He couldn't attack Curtis without her getting hurt, either by his spell or by Curtis himself. 'The little brat is going to be the death of me yet...' he thought. If it hadn't been for her, he'd have been out of town and on his way back to Midgar by now. But no... He had to start worrying about her. He desperately tried to fend off the acceptance of the fact that he genuinely cared what happened to her. She continuously drove him nuts - caused him nothing but trouble - and here he was, hesitating in covering his own ass all because he didn't want to do something that might end up getting her killed.  
  
Reno didn't have time to reflect on his inner turmoil for long, however, the barrel of the gun now pointed at him, Curtis' finger tense on the trigger as Reno readied himself to move before the man shot, hoping he was agile enough to get out of the way. His eyes locked with Curtis', and he wondered if he was only prolonging his own death... Be that as it may, his body was fueled by a rush of adrenaline, ready to move at a moment's notice even though he had nowhere to run, surrounded as he was... but damned if he was going down without a fight.  
  
And then he heard Yuffie's voice, though he didn't pay any attention to what she said. He expected the shot to come a moment later, but it didn't. Instead, he watched as Curtis' eyes glazed over, taking on a distinctive glow.  
  
"Alright, ya creep... Why don't you just point that gun at yourself?" said Yuffie. Reno watched in confused silence - as did the crowd of townspeople - as Curtis complied.  
  
"If anyone tries to attack us, you're gonna pull the trigger," Yuffie stated. Curtis nodded. The guards and townspeople didn't seem to know what to do given this new development, shuffling and muttering indecisively. Reno gave Yuffie a questioning look... In reply, smiled knowingly and pointed to a yellow materia in her armor.  
  
'Manipulate,' Reno thought, and he could have kicked himself for not having figured it out on his own. He relaxed a bit, but was far from letting his guard down entirely.  
  
"Now tell all these people what your real plans are," she said to Curtis.  
  
"Hey... Ya know something, Yuffie?" Reno said quietly as Curtis robotically explained his scheme, "You're smarter than you look..."  
  
"I... Hey! Gawd... You're such a creep..." the ninja replied. Reno grinned at her, and wrapped an arm around her waist.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Note: Still reading this? *grin* Ok, then... One more chapter to go... :)  
  
  



	8. All Good Things...

In a Quiet Town  
by Desha  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Chapter 8: All Good Things...  
  
As Curtis disclosed the secrets of his plan to the gathered crowd, Reno could see that there were many who simply didn't want to believe that they'd been used. He heard not a few insinuations and outright declarations that he and Yuffie were making it all up... using the materia to force Curtis to say he'd lied to them. But with the gun still aimed at his head by his own hand, no one moved to do anything about it. In the end, Reno had to send some of the townspeople into the house to see the files in the upstairs office for themselves. The wait for their return was agonizing, but well worth it. Their added testimony finally convinced the vast majority of what had really been going on in the town.  
  
When Yuffie's spell at last wore off, Reno took the gun, and Curtis found himself in the hands of some of the very displeased citizens of Duraman who had remained behind after the crowd had dispersed. Most of his hired guards had shown their loyalty by fleeing at the first opportunity, like rats from a sinking ship. A few stayed behind, siding with the town over their ex-leader.  
  
"You think you've stopped me?" Curtis hissed at Reno and Yuffie, who both stood in front of him, "You haven't... I'll start over somewhere else... I'll..."  
  
A shot rang out from behind them before Curtis could continue, and instinctively, Reno pushed Yuffie down, felling the bullet graze his cheek as he did so. He ignored the surprised cry from Curtis' direction, rolling to face the new threat and returning fire, watching as the figure that stood at the gates of the house crumpled to the ground.  
  
"That idiot..." Curtis gasped, his voice pained.  
  
Reno and Yuffie looked back at Curtis in time to see him slump forward, having to be supported by the two men who had been restraining him. Blood spread in a dark stain over the front of his shirt.  
  
"Guess that solves that problem," Reno commented, checking for a pulse and finding none. Obviously, the bullet had been meant for either Yuffie or himself... Curtis had just been in the wrong place when Reno and Yuffie hit the ground.  
  
"Who shot him?" asked Yuffie, more than a little shocked. They walked toward the motionless body by the gate, and Reno rolled the second dead man onto his back.  
  
"Riley. How the hell did he get out?" Reno sighed.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
After ascertaining that all three brothers were dead - Curtis and Riley both shot, and Garris having not survived his the trauma caused by his encounter with Reno's electro-rod - Reno and Yuffie began the long walk back to where they'd had to leave the car.  
  
"Gawd... Why am *I* carrying this?" Yuffie complained, as she half-dragged the heavy gas can along the road.  
  
"Cuz I'm hurt... A certain ninja landed on top of me, remember?" Reno replied, smiling innocently, "Besides... I did save your life... Several times, in fact."  
  
"Excuse me? Who saved who from drowning, huh? You think I *enjoyed* giving you mouth to mouth? You owe me, Turkey..." the ninja replied, as she set the gas can down and crossed her arms stubbornly.  
  
"Aw... You know you liked it... And by the way, you wouldn't have so much trouble carrying that if you weren't lugging around all that materia," Reno countered, nodding to the bag she had slung over one shoulder.  
  
"No way am I leaving this behind!" she nearly screamed, "It took forever to find all the best ones in that mess in the vault!" She clutched the bag possessively and glared at the Turk.  
  
"Fine... Just keep dragging it along then," Reno said smugly as he turned and continued walking, "But I'm not gonna help you carry it..."  
  
Yuffie continued to glare at his retreating form for a moment before picking up the gas can and stomping after him, not really noticing that he slowed his pace to let her catch up.  
  
"You know something? I was actually *starting* to think that maybe... just maybe... you weren't as big an asshole as I thought you were," she seethed, "That maybe I was being unfair by seeing you as nothing more than an arrogant, egotistical, lazy, worthless son of a bitch..."  
  
"Yuff... I think you've been spending too much time with that pilot friend of yours..." Reno chastised, pretending to look shocked, "Such language..."  
  
Yuffie ignored the interruption.  
  
"But you are the biggest jerk I have ever met!" she continued.  
  
"Why Yuffie... I think that's the nicest thing you've ever said to me," said Reno, goading her farther, and grinning happily as anger and annoyance flashed in her eyes. He knew he should stop, but she was just so much fun to provoke... and oddly attractive when she looked like she was ready to break his neck. He knew he should stop... he truly knew he should...  
  
"But seriously... Why don't you tell me how you really feel? Spending all this time with me... Life or death situations..." he said, ignoring the little voice that was pleading with him to shut the hell up, "Come on... say it. You know you're madly attracted to me. I can see it in your eyes... You want me."  
  
His grin grew wider even though tiny alarms in the back of his mind were going of frantically trying to dissuade him from getting himself killed by the ninja. Yuffie set the gas can down with an echoing thud.  
  
"Uh oh..." Reno backed up a step as Yuffie closed in on him. She was definitely going to slap him for that... not that he didn't deserve it. He decided that it was better to let her vent some of her anger, not wanting to spend the next few hours driving with an irate, carsick ninja... so he made no attempt to dodge when he saw her hand move back, ready to strike. But instead of the open-handed slap he'd been expecting, she caught him hard with a right hook. Unprepared for the blow, Reno stumbled backwards, losing his balance and landing ungracefully on his butt, staring up at her in surprise. Yuffie began to laugh at the caught-off-guard expression on Reno's face.  
  
"Damn, Yuffie... Remind me not to tease you anymore," said Reno, rubbing the side of his face, "You have no sense of humor at all..."  
  
"You want a second black eye to match the one I just gave you?" she retorted, an idle threat made for appearances sake, somewhat-guiltily noting that the flesh around his left eye was already beginning to bruise.  
  
"Alright, alright..." said Reno, holding up his hands in defeat to humor her. It was Yuffie's turn to grin as she pulled him to his feet.  
  
"You had it coming, ya know..." she said in lieu of an apology.  
  
"Yeah, I know."  
  
She turned and headed off down the road, making a point of leaving the gas can behind for Reno to carry.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
They drove in silence for a long time, and it wasn't until Yuffie slumped over, leaning on his shoulder, that Reno realized she'd fallen asleep.  
  
"Mmm... Reno..." she murmured softly. Reno smirked and wrapped an arm around her, taking his eyes off the road only briefly to glance at her peacefully sleeping form.  
  
"Ok, so I'm a jerk..." he admitted after awhile, even though he knew his traveling companion couldn't hear him.  
  
"Yeah... you are..." the ninja mumbled sleepily, stifling a yawn, "But I guess I can forgive you for that."  
  
"Ha! I knew you loved me!" Reno replied, trying to mask the fact that he hadn't meant for her to hear.  
  
"Just drive, Turk-boy," Yuffie replied, rolling her eyes, but smiling all the same.  
  
  
*~fin~*  
  
Note: Well, there you have it... The end of the longest story I've ever started writing and actually finished... How was it? Good? Bad? Ready to shoot me for leaving the ending kinda open to interpretation? :) Reviews please!  
  



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